Feed is a rare book. There are only a handful of books I've read that I can say have hit me in the gut. Brave New World would be one such book. Heart of Darkness would be another. In my view, Feed is in that league.

Feed is not an easy book to read. I don't mean that in the sense that the writing is dense or the plot difficult to follow. Feed is extremely readable in that respect. I mean it is a difficult pill to swallow. It is an unflinching examination of our consumer culture. It is an unapologetic evisceration of youth culture. A lot of people would dismiss Feed after reading those two lines as a mere political statement or an agenda-pusher. That would be a mistake. Feed is not a partisan book. It is not advocating a world-view. It is showing us a mirror without the rose-colored glasses we cling to, myself included.

We are getting dumber. We don't read. We don't think. We listen to the news we are spoonfed and still manage to ignore anything unpleasant. We are poisoning our environment and slowly killing ourselves. The internet is raising a generation that bring up meaningless facts but cannot provide a shred of context to them. Corporations tell kids what is cool and they embrace advertising propaganda without a second thought. We are self-centered and shallow and we project these as virtues to our children. These are all true statements. I'm not a doomsayer, and I would argue we are actively resisting these effects in many ways. I'm not a radical, and I would argue these problems are not as bad as they seem. I believe both of those things wholeheartedly. But a small part of me can't deny the painful truth of Feed: Our world is not as different from the hell Anderson paints as we would like to believe. I hate Anderson's portrayal of what our society will become. But try as I might, I can't give a single reason why he's wrong.

Feed is not for the faint of heart. It is brutally honest.

Now that that's out of the way, I wonder why this book isn't more popular. I can't help but compare it to the award winning Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Little Brother was up for a Hugo this year. When Feed was written a few years ago, it was virtually ignored. Both are in the young adult category, so it wasn't an issue of audience. Don't get me wrong, I loved Little Brother. But after reading Feed, I can only view Little Brother as a very naive version of 1984. Little Brother argues that technology and youth will save us from ourselves. Feed does what all powerful dystopian fantasies should do: It argues we are hurtling toward our own destruction and nothing will save us, least of all youth or technology, which are a large part of the problem. Little Brother lacks a lot of its punch after reading Feed. ( )

(I originally wrote this review on April 11, 2003 for Amazon.)

Satire may soar over the heads of young readers:

Imagine instant-messaging your friends in your mind. Imagine all those obnoxious computer pop-up ads happening right in your brain. Imagine retailers knowing precisely what you've ever bought, your favorite color, your shoe size. Imagine liking it. This is the scary, weird world described in M.T. Anderson's "Feed". Titus and his friends are average middle-class American teenagers of the future. They take for granted the weird convergence of technology, corporate intervention, and mind-control they live with known as a feed. Enter Violet; a girl Titus meets on spring break, a girl who wants to 'fight the feed'.

There are important and compelling issues raised in this novel about advertising, privacy, conformity, individualism and technology. It's a book that demands discussion, explanation and consideration. Unfortunately, I think that much of it may be over the heads of its teenaged target audience. Readers who need things spelled out may be challenged by this book because significant aspects of the setting (and what a grim future it is) are implied, or only mentioned in passing. I think few teenagers will be satisfied with the ending. And fewer still will probably spend much time thinking about the issues in the story after they've put it down. It's too bad that the profanity and few mild references to sexual situations will keep this book out of most classrooms, because it's really a story that deserves to be discussed, especially by young adults.

I do recommend this book for advanced and thoughtful teen readers. Sci-fi fans in particular will enjoy it. Other readers should appreciate the accurate portrayal of teen dating, cliques, jealousies, insecurities and friendships. I hope the larger, more important themes of the book will be grasped as well.

This book blew me away...a complete surprise. I love cautionary tales that are simultaneously subtle and hysterical. Feed, however is also creepy and at times unnerving. M.T. Anderson's has provided his characters amazing, on-the-mark voices. I HIGHLY recommend the audio version as it's produced in a multi-media style that drives home many of the book's philosophies and visions. ( )

The language is incredible. Will scare you to death! ( )

While the idea of the 'feeds' into the brain raises questions parallel with societal issues of advertising/marketing and teens, Titus, the protagonist, never grows or develops as an adolescent while other around him do and are affected by their situation and circumstances. Prefer Anderson's 'Thirsty' ( )